posted at 5:01 pm on October 27, 2013 by Erika Johnsen

California was both the first and largest state to commit to building their own state-specific individual marketplace rather than working through the still mostly-busted federal exchange, and the launch of their Covered California site has been relatively smoother than most (although not without its own problems). Like the Obama administration, California is reporting an encouraging amount of traffic but doesn’t plan to release its actual enrollment numbers until mid-November — but in the meantime, the middle-class Californians checking out their new healthcare “options” are feeling a little bit perturbed about what they’re seeing. Via the Los Angeles Times:

“This is when the actual sticker shock comes into play for people,” said Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. “There are winners and losers under the Affordable Care Act.”

Fullerton resident Jennifer Harris thought she had a great deal, paying $98 a month for an individual plan through Health Net Inc. She got a rude surprise this month when the company said it would cancel her policy at the end of this year. Her current plan does not conform with the new federal rules, which require more generous levels of coverage.

Now Harris, a self-employed lawyer, must shop for replacement insurance. The cheapest plan she has found will cost her $238 a month. She and her husband don’t qualify for federal premium subsidies because they earn too much money, about $80,000 a year combined.

“It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” said Harris, who is three months pregnant. “This increase is simply not affordable.”

Gee, no kidding. The LA Times reports that California is home to more than two million individually insured residents, and that hundreds of thousands of them are receiving cancellation notices on their current plans and getting booted into the exchange where they’ll need to pay an average of 30 percent more for their new premiums. How anybody ever managed to convince themselves that none of this would have a net negative economic impact and indeed act as a new tax on the middle class, I’m sure I’ll never know.

“It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” said Harris, who is three months pregnant. “This increase is simply not affordable.”

Obama/DEMs dont even need 50 percent of California on his side in any election

If he poaches from his useful idiots to buy loyalistas, his plan is successful. I will assume the people who really wrote this plan, who know how to jimmie an economy, did the percentages, and scaled carefully

If he puts a percentage of middle class supporters into a financial bind, they will be hamstrung, and no big loss. Probably gambling the same group of useful idiots will not jump to support the GOP

ObaPelosReid:
“Yeah, those middle-class lib sheeple are groaning now, but they’ll get used to it as the ‘new normal’. Just like people complained when gas went from $1 to $2, but now everyone accepts $3-$4 as normal. Sigh, shrug and go on.
“PLUS, most voted for us and our Dem counterparts, believing we were right and those Republicans were evil, and they won’t be able to admit they were wrong about that. In the end, they’ll console themselves by saying it’s for the children.“

“It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” said Harris, who is three months pregnant. “This increase is simply not affordable.”

Let me get out the worlds tinniest violin and smash it over your head.

We know that. He is also a huge statist, gun control freak, and all-around squish. He spends most his life criticising the Tea Party, conservatives, and libertarians while applauding Barack Obama. His attacks on the right sound like they came straight from Media Matters or the Centre for American Progress.

I’ve followed him for years and have rarely, if ever, agreed with him.

These morons elected a con man who claimed he would reduce insurance premiums by 3000%. I wonder how many of them realized you can’t reduce the price of anything by more than 100%. It ought to have given them a clue that he is a fraud. The Obamacare debacle looks good on them.

“The only people who feel there shouldn’t be more coming into the federal government from the rich people are the Republicans in the Congress. Everybody else, including the rich people, are willing to pay more. They want to pay more.” –Harry Reid

Which is why he went on a personal vendetta against Harriet Miers, who treated him like the hired help he was.

Frum, Harris, and others like Ezra Klein and Matty Yglesias who supposed this nonsense could work had to assume requiring people to purchase coverages they neither need nor want wouldn’t raise prices. IOW, they are economic illiterates.

Justice, in this case, is indeed sweet. But, man oh man, I cannot even imagine the wrecking ball this is going to be to our economy. Millions of $$$ sucked right out of the middle class.

txhsmom on October 27, 2013 at 5:22 PM

Actually I think people are going to ditch insurance and find a provider that will pay cash and pay as they go. If you are a relatively healthy person and there is no way you would meet these insane deductibles – why would you spend all that money?

Most hospitals let you go on payment plans and if you get a disease or long term illness you can get insurance at anytime.

If I had my own practice I would go cash only and not have to deal with ObamaCare at all.

It appears the talking points from the MSM and idiots like Juan Williams are:
1) Even if the insurance companies cancel you, they are going to offer a BETTER plan than you had!!
2) The new plans will be at a LOWER COST with substantially increased benefits!!!
3) So, in summary, you’ll get a better plan for less cost!!!

A combination of 1,2 and 3 seems to be the mantra today. They are repeating it over and over and over. You’re existing plan sucks, so the government is going to make sure, in spite of your ignorance, that you now have “comprehensive” insurance. And, it will “cost” less.

What they conveniently leave out of the “cost” are higher deductibles and co-pays.

The idiots in this state want Democratic control. Well now they have it. For those who want to complain, my first question is “Who did you vote for?” Invariably they voted Democratic. So my retort is less than sympathetic to their plight. Followed by “Wait until next years PRICE INCREASE!”

“It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” said Harris, who is three months pregnant. “This increase is simply not affordable.”

They make 80,000 a year combined and can’t be bothered to pay an additional $40 a month? No one has suffered like these people have suffered.

“It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” said Harris, who is three months pregnant. “This increase is simply not affordable.”

I’m not sure she understands why costs have skyrocketed. I’ve yet to see an accounting from any of the insurance companies that shows which particular new requirement of Obamacare drives every dollar of increase, and I’d like to see that.

She seems to think that her premiums have gone up to “pay for the uninsured”, but I don’t believe that’s the reason. The uninsured will get insured because of the mandate, and the relaxation of the income limits for Medicaid.

I believe the biggest chunk of her increase comes from the ‘pre-existing’ clause. What do you folks think? Have any insurance companies taken a shot at an accounting of what each piece of Obamacare costs us?

Caveat: What follows is not aimed at you workingclass artist – this is just a good jumping off point:

Obamacare is STEALING our children’s PRESENT – not just their FUTURE.

The Death Spiral is already in place for our children:

1) Thanks to the Democrats incompetence on the economy there are not enough new jobs being created for new workers entering the job market. In the last week, a broad spectrum of voices has started to speak out against the fruitless continuation of the Federal Reserve’s Quatative Easing – a policy Janet Yellen is like to EXPAND rather than TAPER or END.

2) Thanks to the marriage of the Fed’s economic incompetence with Obamacare – Many of the jobs BEING created are part time, poorly paid positions without benefits.

3) College graduates are running up unprecedented levels of education debt …. but having the degree means only 50% of the graduates are finding jobs … the other 50% have government sponsored debt, which is driving up the cost of college, they CAN’T get out of even if they declare bankruptcy.

and last but not least …

4) If they’ve found a decent paying job, young workers now get to FUND their parent’s & grandparent’s healthcare costsORpay 1% of their income as a punitive TAX for not taking the worst deal ever offered.

Unlike unfunded Social Security liabilities for which the bill won’t come due for another decade …

… Obamacare is impoverishing ourselves and our children NOW – not at some point in the future.

Obamacare is the Jonestown Kool-Aid of Democrat ideology being forced down American’s throats with the IRS as the enforcers to make sure everyone COMPLIES.

I stand corrected and that *is* a heavy burden on that income (depending where they live in California of course). I *still* think though that its a doable expense. Given their income they can’t have children, or they would qualify for subsidies. They are contributing to a set of subsidies that don’t just only subsidize “the poor,” but the reproducing, incentivizing childbirth. Seems like a win-win for the social cons.

I stand corrected and that *is* a heavy burden on that income (depending where they live in California of course). I *still* think though that its a doable expense. Given their income they can’t have children, or they would qualify for subsidies. They are contributing to a set of subsidies that don’t just only subsidize “the poor,” but the reproducing, incentivizing childbirth. Seems like a win-win for the social cons.

libfreeordie on October 27, 2013 at 6:25 PM

You are forcing people to purchase more insurance than they want.

You also told them if they liked their plan, they could keep it.

And, I am no socon so that argument isn’t going to fly with me. besides, in some counties in California like Los Angeles, the majority of babies are born to Medicaid mums, whose numbers Obamacare swells.